


FFVII Folk Tales: The Path of Spirits

by ixieko



Series: FFVII Folk Tales [10]
Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Creation Myth, Folklore, Gen, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-03
Updated: 2016-01-03
Packaged: 2018-05-11 09:55:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5623183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ixieko/pseuds/ixieko
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Different nations of Gaia have their own legends about the creation of the world and Lifestream. This is one of them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	FFVII Folk Tales: The Path of Spirits

Long, long ago, when all animals and plants were just created by Sun, his sons went from their bright houses in the sky village down to the ground to see what their father made.

Maltar the Whale, the youngest, went to the depths of ocean and found underwater forests and fields, bright flowers that were moving and hunting for water bugs, and giant seashells as big as houses. He looked around and saw many different fish, and was pleased that his father created them in Maltar's shape. But he thought that underwater world would be even better if he added more creatures into it, and so he took Sun's enchanted flute, and set to perfect his undersea garden.

The second son, Kuchida the Bat, went to forests, and tundra, and mountains, and found trees, and grass, and many animals and birds. In caves he found bats and was very pleased that Sun created them in his shape. Animals were peaceful then and ate only grass and fruits, and Kuchida was bored by it. Using his father's enchanted fiddle, he made some of the animals crave others' meat, and amused himself, observing how the new predators hunted.

Oli the Raven, the oldest son of Sun, went to the very first humans that lived in a small village near the sea shore. Their yurts were built from tree branches, and grass, and moss, and were cold and dark, for people didn't know fire yet. These very first people could not talk as we do now, and used hand gestures and animal sounds instead of speech. Oli liked the humans and decided to help them.

And so, the three brothers were visiting the land, descending from their homes in the sky and doing what each of them wanted to do: Maltar was spending his days tending for underwater gardens, Kuchida used his powers and Sun's fiddle to control animals and was trying to breed a most powerful predator, and Oli was helping humans and teaching them.

Oli always came to humans as an old white-haired and white-bearded man, clothed in a long grey cloak and wielding a staff, and that's why the very first people gave him another name we know him by: Sayama-amaka, the Grey Man. He taught people how to light fire and how to cook fish and how to plant seeds. Humans were fast learners, and Oli was very proud of them. But their years were not long; sometimes people he knew suddenly disappeared.  
When he asked where did they go, an old woman said, "They died."  
Death was not something Sun's children knew, and Oli asked why did that happen to the humans.  
"Our bodies grow tired of life," The old woman explained. "That's why we have to sleep every night. If our bodies get hurt, they get tired too. Someday they grow so tired that even sleep does not help, and then our bodies go to sleep forever and we return them into the ground where they become a food for worms and bugs and roots of plants, and our spirits go out and roam around, until they are reborn in new bodies. We all know who we were before, because our memories stay with us."

The first people didn't fight neither among themselves nor with animals, and died mostly of old age. But, as years passed, the village was more and more often attacked by monsters that were coming from the North. Oli taught humans how to make swords and spears and maces and how to use them, and then he went to the North following the trail of monsters. For a long time he went through forests, and saw that animals around were scared and hiding in thicket. "What are you afraid of?" He asked, and they told him about a scary valley from where the monsters were coming.  
Oli went there, and on the far North he found the place the animals told him about. In a narrow valley, monsters were swarming and fighting with each other. They growled and howled, attacked with fangs and claws, and blood was flowing freely, and the valley was loud with sounds of battle and death. From time to time, a monster or two managed to climb the rocks and get out of the valley. On a high mountain's peak, Oli saw Kuchida sitting and playing their father's enchanted fiddle. He flew up to him and asked, "What are you doing, brother?"  
Kuchida stopped playing, and answered, "I'm creating a perfect predator, brother. Look at these monsters, they all are my creations!"  
"Stop this," Oli said. "They are killing other animals outside the valley and attacking the humans."  
"What of it?" Kuchida said. "I don't care neither for animals nor for your humans. They all are just toys created by Father, and I'm playing with them as I see fit."  
Angered, Oli took the Sun's fiddle and broke it. "They are alive, brother! They are not our toys! Stop torturing them!"  
Kuchida only laughed. "Ah, brother," He said, "Don't you see that you, too, is playing with them?"

Saying that, he left his brother, but did not fly back to the sky village. Instead, he went to the humans village and turned into an old man, a lot like his brother. When the villagers saw him, they asked if he was a wise man like Sayama-amaka, and he said, "Yes, I'm Tadame the Truthful, and I came to tell you that Sayama-amaka was not telling you the whole truth."  
"How?" The people asked.  
Kuchida made a sad face and said, "Where do you think your spirits go after leaving your bodies?"  
"To the new bodies that are about to be born," The people answered.  
Kuchida feigned a sad sigh. "This isn't always true," He said. "In darkness between the stars lives a black dragon that preys upon spirits and eats them. Any of you can die and not be reborn."  
"Is this true?" The people shouted. "Please, help us! Please, save us from that dragon!"  
Kuchida smiled. "Ask Sayama-amaka," He said. "If he truly cares for you, he will help."  
In that moment, he saw a raven's dark shape against the sky and knew that his brother was about to return, and so he bid farewell to the villagers and quickly went away.

When Oli entered the village, people surrounded him, begging for his help. As much as he was trying to calm them down and to convince them that there was no such dragon, they were still scared.  
From that day, people became afraid of dying, and even after the death of body, their spirits were still afraid. At night they looked at the sky, and it seemed to them that they could see shadows of black wings in the darkness between the stars, and it made their fears even stronger. Their ability to talk to animals only made things worse, because Kuchida's lie was spreading not only among humans, but among all other creatures, and they were becoming afraid too. Frightened spirits could not let go of their previous life and be reborn. More and more of them, exhausted by fear, were losing their sanity and turning into monsters.

For a long time Oli was thinking of a way to help people. Finally he went to Sun himself and asked him, "Father, you created all the living creatures. How did you create their spirits?"  
But the Sun said, "I did not create their spirits, Dunneh (The spirit of the land; Gaia. - M.) did."

Oli descended to the ground and searched for an entrance to underground halls. He went through them, careful not to touch the green blood of the land that was flowing there, and found Dunneh in her throne room.  
"What brings you here, son of the mighty Sun?" She asked him.  
"The living creatures became afraid of dying, and their spirits are turning into savage monsters." Oli said. "My father told me that you was the one who created them. Is there a way to help them?"  
The goddess said, "Their fears and regrets burden them, but we can help them to let go of that burden. Like water washes off sweat and dust, the green blood of the land can wash their memories off, along with all the fear and pain. Cleansed, their spirits will return to the surface and will be reborn as new creatures, and the cycle will go on."  
"So be it," The oldest son of Sun said, and so it became. Since then, when mortal creatures die, their spirits are being summoned to Eneen Dunneh's (Mother Land's - M.) halls and bathe in the green waters, where they let go of their memories along with all the pain and regrets, and Dunneh forever keeps these memories hidden in her halls like priceless treasures, and all humans and animals are reborn with no memories of their previous life. The comings and goings of spirits create a flow that we call the Path of Spirits, and Southerners call it the Lifestream.

They say that people who lived a good life and have little regrets return to life much faster than those whose regrets are plenty and strong. Sometimes, spirits have so strong feelings that they hold on their mortal bodies or the place of their death and don't go to the Eneen Dunneh's halls at all; those few become monsters, like it happened in ancient times when the Path of Spirits did not yet exist.

_(From “The tales of North”, Evan Marius, 1932)_

* * *

"How much of this legend is true, you think?"  
"Well, the part about Lifestream as a flow of spiritual energy definitely is, if you paid any attention to Bugenhagen's lectures."  
"This I know, Grim. But what about memories? Do you think Lifestream really holds all the memories of previous generations?"  
"Probably. At least, it is believed, though not proven, that Materia holds memories of Cetra that give us ability to use magic, and Materia is crystallized spiritual energy."  
"Ah, how amazing it would be to see these memories, Grim! To see the civilization of Cetra in times when it flourished! How beautiful it must have been!"  
"Do you really think so, Gast? We just as well can end up viewing the world from a point of view of a mice. Or a marlboro. Or some hermit that never left his cave. And, if Materia contains literally all memories of a person... Would you like someone to see you having sex, or, say, wiping your ass?"  
"...You certainly know how to ruin the mood, Grim."  
"Always glad to be of service, Gast."


End file.
